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MEDICAL ANIMATION TRANSCRIPT: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, is the gradual loss of your ability to breathe effectively. Normally, as you inhale, air moves freely through your trachea, or windpipe, then through large tubes called bronchi, smaller tubes called bronchioles, and finally into tiny sacs called alveoli. Small blood vessels called capillaries surround your alveoli. Oxygen from the air you breathe passes into your capillaries, then carbon dioxide from your body passes out of your capillaries into your alveoli, so that your lungs can get rid of it when you exhale. Normally, your airways and alveoli are flexible and springy. When you inhale, each air sac inflates like a small balloon. And when you exhale, the sacs deflate. Smoking is the leading cause of COPD. However, it may also be caused by long-term exposure to other lung irritants such as air pollution, chemical fumes, dust, and smoke from other sources. If you have COPD, you have the two main conditions that make up the disease, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. In emphysema, your airways and air sacs lose their shape and become floppy. This causes less air to flow in and out of them. Emphysema destroys some of your air sac walls, leading to fewer larger sacs that provide less area to absorb oxygen from the air you breathe. Over time, these changes can block normal air flow, resulting in a condition called air trapping. This means that some air is trapped in your lungs when you breathe out. Air trapping causes a condition called lung hyperinflation. This means your lungs are overfilled with air. Lung hyperinflation weakens your diaphragm, a muscle that helps you breathe. This causes the diaphragm to flatten. A weaker, flatter diaphragm can't contract as well, making it harder for you to breathe. The symptoms of emphysema include wheezing, shortness of breath, and tightness in your chest. With chronic bronchitis, damage inside your airways causes the lining to swell, thicken, and make mucus. You develop a persistent cough as your body attempts to get rid of the extra mucus. The symptoms of chronic bronchitis include an ongoing cough that produces a lot of mucus, shortness of breath, and frequent respiratory infections. The damage done to your lungs by COPD cannot be reversed, and there is no cure for the disease. However, treatment can slow the progress of your disease and help you feel better. The most common treatments are quitting smoking, use of inhaled medicines to open your airways and reduce swelling, antibiotics for bronchitis caused by bacterial infection, oxygen therapy for those with advanced COPD and severely low levels of oxygen in their blood, and surgery such as a bullectomy or lung volume reduction surgery to remove non-functioning air sacs. The best way to prevent yourself from getting COPD is to never smoke. If you are a smoker, quitting smoking reduces the chance you'll develop COPD. You can also limit your exposure to chemicals, fumes, and dusts that may cause COPD. If you have any questions about COPD, talk to your healthcare provider.
"I wanted to take some time out to let you know what a wonderful job you did
with the 'collapsed lung/fractured rib' illustrations. They were both
detailed and accurate. My medical expert was comfortable working with them
and he spent at least an hour explaining to the jury the anatomy of the
lungs, the ribs and the injuries depicted in the illustrations. Needless to
say, the jury was riveted to the doctor during his testimony.
The jury returned a verdict for $800,000.00 and I'm sure we would not have
done so well if not for the visualizations we were able to put forth with
your assistance. Lastly, my special thanks to Alice [Senior Medical
Illustrator] who stayed late on Friday night and patiently dealt with my
last minute revisions."
Daniel J. Costello
Proner & Proner
New York, NY
"Our firm was able to settle our case at an all day mediation yesterday and
I am confident that the detail and overall appearance of the medical
illustrations significantly contributed to the settlement. When we require
medical illustrations in the future, I will be sure to contact [MLA]."
Noel Turner, III
Burts, Turner, Rhodes & Thompson
Spartanburg, SC
"This past year, your company prepared three medical illustrations for our cases; two in which we received six figure awards; one in which we received a substantial seven figure award. I believe in large part, the amounts obtained were due to the vivid illustrations of my clients' injuries and the impact on the finder of fact."
Donald W. Marcari
Marcari Russotto & Spencer, P.C.
Chesapeake, VA
"Thank you very much for the great work on the medical exhibits. Our trial
resulted in a $16 million verdict for a 9 year old boy with catastrophic
injuries, and the medical illustrations definitely played key role in the
trial."
Medical Legal Art creates medical demonstrative evidence (medical
illustrations, drawings, pictures, graphics, charts, medical animations,
anatomical models, and interactive presentations) for use during legal
proceedings, including research, demand letters, client conferences,
depositions, arbitrations, mediations, settlement conferences, mock jury
trials and for use in the courtroom. We do not provide legal or medical
advice. If you have legal questions, you should find a lawyer with whom you
can discuss your case issues. If you have medical questions, you should seek the advice of a healthcare provider.
